Only So Many To Go Around

English

This summer, I attended a 3-day workshop to make a RepRap, that is to say a 3D printer. We had the pleasure of meeting Adrian Bowler, the original inventor of the RepRap, and Josef Prusa, who designed the machine we built.
Adrian Bowler explained to us how he came to coin the term RepRap: he was looking for something short, simple and descriptive, like most business or product designers. He settled on Replicating Rapid Protoype and shortened it to RepRap, thinking it was a previously unused term… And as it turned out, he was wrong. Reprap is a term used in oceanography, and as it turns out, oceanographers are having a much harder time of it googling the term now, or providing visibility for their research.

Such are the challenges awaiting those who seek to name a brand or a product, and expanding internationally comes with its own challenges. This is when the services of translators might also come into play: they can be used as consultants to say if the name is already taken in a specific country, if it means something in the target language and if yes, what that means. For instance, Lush’s henna Caca rouge and Caca marron may well be a deliberate choice, and one suited to their target customers, but it would take a French-, Italian- or Spanish-speaking person a hefty dose of irony and trust for the brand to apply « poo » on their hair!

To borrow a conclusion from the great Terry Pratchett, as told by officer Carrot in The Fifth Elephant, “When you think about it, there are so many syllables to go around.”